


fire exit

by jub_es



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Absent Parents, Angst, Character Death, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, multiple interpretations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 20:22:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18901981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jub_es/pseuds/jub_es
Summary: minho was sitting at his house's fire exit, his feet dangling in a way that couldn't be safe. 'where did everything go wrong?'





	fire exit

**Author's Note:**

> so this was actually a school project that i kinda translated and turned into a fanfic so yeah. it's not. good.
> 
> this was originally written in portuguese, there might be some mistakes

minho was sitting at his house's fire exit, his feet dangling in a way that couldn't be safe. 'where did everything go wrong?' - he thinks while taking a sip from his coffee that was already cold and not as tasty as it could be.

a noise comes from inside the house. 'he's back sooner' - in theory, he shouldn't feel disappointed about the fact that his father had come back home, but well, he did. a gust of wind blows his bangs gently, and he feels a shiver run down his spine.

\- "you should've at least put on a coat," - a voice he wished so bad not to know said - "the night is colder than usual."

he doesn't have to look up to know who's talking, that voice is way too familiar to forget. slightly raspy but not exactly low. it's his neighbor, a boy a little older than him but still around his own height, and that always seems to be tired although he never fails to lighten the mood.

\- "and you shold stop smoking, but here you are." - he mumbles in a defensive tone.

the other shrugs and throws the cigarette away. before minho could think of a smart response, a guy appears and hugs the neighbor from behind. if anyone noticed the way th stranger's eyes softened when he talked to him, they chose not to comment.

\- "i'm heading out." - he uttered, missing the person watching them and kisses the one in his embrace to then go away.

minho waits some time to be sure that the man had left, but when he opens his mouth to say something, the words die in his throat. the mood around the other had completely fallen, the only thing in the air was longing, longing for something you can't have. his gaze held so much sadness and he wasn't able to decipher the reason why the other's behaviour had changed so drastically  


'what happened to you?' - he questions silently, but it seemed that his efforts had been for nothing, given that the heighbor just looked at him and sighed. an awkward silence fell upon them.

passed some time of just staring at his neighbor's slumped form, the other looks up to say something, but is interrupted by the sound of glass breaking and, like a bucket of cold water, the reality comes to him. 'he's back already.' - he looks down so that he doesn't have to face the one watching him.  


he could feel the pity radiating from the older and, without sparing him a glance, he got up to leave, the structure creaking under him in a concerning way.  


when minho is about to jump the window to go in, he decides to look back, and the scene that greets him makes him disappointed but not surprised. he had gone inside already, his blinds and window closed.  


he enters his apartment at the same moment another glass being broken can be heard reverberating through the rooms. 'does this make me a bad person, wishing i didn't have to deal with my father?'  


getting into his room, he locks the door, sliding down on his back until he is sitting on the ground, praying that his father forgets about him for the day. 'at least he goes away tomorrow, I'll have about three days of peace until he comes back.'  
before he knows it, he fell asleep right on the ground.

  
he wakes up to the sound of his cellphone buzzing, he picks it up, just to drop it immediately on the ground.  
they were messages from him.

 

**_•°,*.boy next door.*,°•_ **

_i gotta talk to u_

_today_

_at 23pm_

  
_-_

  
_please?_

 

for some reason, when he read those messages, a pang of unbearable pain hit his chest, one that felt too much like longing - 'longing for something you can't have' - his brain unhelpfully provides. choosing to ignore it, he went to the kitchen to make himself some shitty quality coffee, but what he didn't realize were the glass shards still on the ground.

it stung, it bled. it wasn't pretty. but still, he stood there, without reaction.

after a while of simply staring at his bloody foot, he went to the bathroom and patched his own injury. 'only god knows how much I need this kit...' - he thinks, sarcastically while walking back to the kitchen.

he sat at the counter drinking his coffee, considering if he should accept his neighbor's request. frustrated, he pulls his own hair with way too much force, an habit that the fount of his anxiety tried so many times to end, but that he had never been able to actually drop.  
minho had a bad feeling about that day, something just didn't sit right. something big would happen - 'but what?' - he was restless. did this feeling have something to do with with the messages? he didn't know.  
as always, he runs from his problems and goes sightseeing from his window. se observes his neighborhood, a badly organized and noisy place, but, that in that morning, was eerily quiet, everything looked static. he looks up, it's cloudy. he looks down and the streets are wet. it had rained.

\- "everything ok up there?" - said the voice he wanted to forget the most at the moment.

he panicks and immediately shuts his curtains and runs to his room, where there were too many windows and an useless ceiling fan that didn't work. it was a shitty room, but he wouldn't trade it for anything.

 

  
'staring at the clock isn't as fun as i thought' - he thinks sarcastically. he was still in his room, thinking about nothing and everything at the same time, waiting for the time to pass.  
getting up is a harder task than it seems, but when he does it's already 17pm and he decides to clean the house to get rid of the alcohol smell that plagued every part of his home, the only proof that his father had been there.  
time passes without being noticed, running faster than it should. it was 22:40 pm when he finally sat down and took a break, the uneasiness had only grown. reality didn't feel right, there was something twisted in it. he didn't know what.  


the fear in his gut was ignored, and, with a burst of confidence, he went to the fire exit for the second night in a row, but, when he sat down, the anxiety comes back and he feels like going inside. before he can do so, the blinds and window before him open, revealing the one who caused his dilemmas.

 

the moment he faced him, it felt like the structure under him had colapsed, it felt like he was falling to his own death. he tried to ignore how the older was wearing long sleeves when he was so proud about the fact that he never felt cold. minho tried to ignore how he seemed genuinely suprised by the fact that he had accepted his invite, too. but it was impossible when everything the other did had such a big impact on him. 'why is it this way? what does it mean?'  
the other looked down at his own hands when he formed what exactly he was going to say, he stared at them, probably gaining the courage to speak up. the moment he did was obvious, the neighbor looked up, and minho couldn't help but feel scared. his eyes looked like broken glass and had lost their determinated shine.

 

\- "what did you want to talk about...?" - minho hesitates before speaking, fearing the possible responses he could get.

 

\- "happy... early birthday?" - he responds, more like a question than an actual answer.  
even to this moment, minho still didn't know what had happened between them that made their interaction so awkward. nothing much had happened in their last conversation, except for the drastic change of characters in the other's part, but could that even be considered relevant?

 

\- "wh-" - it just didn't make sense - "what do you mean, my birthday is six months away."

 

\- "go to your front door and get the packages that are there, they're for you" - he says, ignoring the question and looking down.  
minho faces him with confusion in his gaze and the other only stares back, emotionless. he isn't sure if he should listen to the other and look for the packages or if he should stand his ground and ask for more, for the reasons why he had changed, for the reason why minho felt so affected by it, for the reason why he was giving him a birthday gift half a year early.  
his gut feeling says the contrary, but minho decides to listen to his friend - 'can he be considered a friend?' - and goes to his door. he finds two packages.

 

minho picks them up and puts them on his sofa, immediately running to the fire exit, only to find an empty window, not even the blinds were there.  
he tries sending him a message, only to further panick.

_**minho** _

_where are you?_

_we are sorry, this message could not be sent. the number you contacted is inexistent_

  
the feeling in his gut comes back and he runs to his neighbor's house, limping because of his injured foot. he bangs the door, no one answers, he bangs again, still no answers. he tries twisting the knob. the door opens. he feels dizzy.

 

it's empty.

 

there wasn't a thing in the apartment. he went through the whole apartment there wasn't a single thing in there. at first he thinks he entered the wrong one, but no, he was at the right place. - 'what happened?'  


going home was the best idea, but minho stood there for a while, assimilating the facts before doing so. getting there, he remembers about the packages, the only thing that had lasted of him.  
he picks one up. it had a post it on top of the wrapping.

 _sorry,_  
  
_maybe I shouldn't have gotten_  
_you into this mess._

  
minho didn't know what to feel, his chest hurt so much, to the point it felt like it was going to explode.  
it didn't feel right, opening the packages. he didn't feel like he deserved them, didn't feel like he could trust the other, even. he did so anyway.

 

the one he had picked up was a small and old notebook filled with lyrics and poems, most of them about love. unrequited love.  
the second package was smaller, more delicate. this one intrigued him more than the other. it was in a jewelry box. while looking inside it he felt like crying. it was a locket, a heart shaped one.  


when he opened it to see what awaited him inside, he burst in tears. it was a picture of the other, he couldn't see the background perfectly, but it looked like a beach. on the bottom of the picture he saw something that looke like a signature. it said 'C.B'. only then it occurred to him, he had never asked the neighbor's name.

 

two days later, minho received the news, the ones that made him feel like he was falling down an abyss, the one that made him feel longing. longing for something he couldn't have anymore.

  
_**unindentified male body is found in a beach, it isn't known if it was murder or suicide.** _

 

 

 

_it was him._

**Author's Note:**

> yeahh, i should probably feel bad about this, but nah


End file.
